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You are here: Home / Archives for correct weight

Labeling Results Determines Future Results

July 19, 2012 By Scott "Q" Marcus

Recently, I stumbled upon some noteworthy details.

First factoid: Supposedly (I say “supposedly” as I’m not sure of its veracity), the average overweight American needs to shed 38 pounds to level the scales at his correct weight. Obviously, some must lose more, and some less. Yet, should one take the collective poundage our citizenry must remove to be healthy, and divide it by the number of citizens who must drop those pounds; the resulting number would be just shy of 40.

Factoid two: That same “average American,” upon deciding to rid himself of the above mentioned 38 pounds, usually quits prior to 16 weeks; a shade less than four months.

The final datum is that — despite pie-in-the-sky claims made by “miracle weight loss cures” falsely proclaiming one can drop five to ten pounds a week — an “average” healthy, sustainable (two important distinctions) weight loss is between one-half and two pounds per week. Let’s split the difference down the middle and declare that number to be one and a quarter pounds every seven days.

From these bits of information, we can make a central deduction.

If the “average person” desirous of losing the “average amount of weight” sheds the “average amount per week” and quits in the “average number of weeks,” he will be approximately half way to his goal when he throws in the towel. (Sixteen weeks multiplied by 1.25 pounds per week = 20 pounds; just the other side of the midway point of 38.)

This prompts a quasi-philosophical question: Is one a “success” or “failure” if she drops 20 pounds, when in actuality, her goal is 38? It’s one of those “half-empty, half-full” scenarios.

The greater issue is not how many pounds one might lose, but how one views how many pounds she has lost.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Beliefs, Diet, Newspaper Column, Overcoming Perfectionsim, Power of Attitude, Self Talk, Weight Loss Tagged With: attitude, correct weight, diet, emotions, motivation, perception is reality, perfectionism, philosophical question, scales, successes

Just When You Thought You Were Healthy…

April 4, 2012 By Scott "Q" Marcus

Why do flags flap on a windy day?

Believe it or not, this is just one of many questions science cannot surely resolve. There are others: What is gravity? Why do we dream? How many species inhabit our planet? Why is it that the freeway lane I choose is always the slowest? (Okay, in all fairness, I really doubt if scientists spend much time on the last question.)

Each of us has unanswered questions.

Since my field is health, I’ve often wondered why is it that we determine someone’s correct weight based on the Quetelet Index of Obesity, a formula dating back to nineteenth-century Europe? Granted, about a century later we shifted to Body Mass Index (BMI), which is weight divided by height squared. Yet the main premise remained in tact: how tall you are is virtually the sole factor to determine how much you should weigh.

That has never made sense to me. Why would a 5’ 6” forty-four year old vegan woman who enjoys yoga and jogs with regularity; and a sedentary man of equal stature who scarfs red meat, French fries, and drives his car 100 yards to the corner store; be considered healthy at the same weight? I have always thought something’s messed up.

It appears I’m correct – but I take no comfort in what I found out.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Baby Boomers, Current Events, Diet, Exercise, Health, Newspaper Column, Weight Loss Tagged With: bmi, body mass index, body mass index bmi, correct weight, dr eric braverman, health, health risks of obesity, heart disease, quetelet index

17 Years at my Correct Weight: A Look Back

September 24, 2011 By Scott "Q" Marcus

As a 17-year-old, I dropped almost 100 pounds, becoming thin for the first time in my life.

By 22, I regained most of it. During that period, I avoided attending meetings, which had worked so well, and therefore suffered the consequences. Funny, isn’t it? You’ll do everything you can — except the one thing that gets you the results you want. Contrary creatures, we humans can be.

Finally returning, I sat in a meeting, embarrassed, ashamed, and sad; a thin, middle age woman addressed the assemblage. “My name’s Betty,” she said, holding up her “before photo,” “I’ve maintained a 100 pound weight loss for ten years.”

“One hundred pounds,” I thought. “I couldn’t even do that for half that time; no way I’ll make it.” It seemed the impossible dream.

This week (Tuesday, 9/27/2011), I am celebrating 17 years at my correct weight, after losing 70 pounds. (I had not regained everything I lost in earlier years; some lessons do stick.)

In these 6,200 plus days since I achieved “goal weight,” I’ve learned much. Space doesn’t allow for everything, yet, there’s room for a few observations; provided in the interest of helping others achieve the success I have been fortunate enough to experience. [Read more…]

Filed Under: goals, Habits, Inspiration, Weight Loss Tagged With: 17 years, correct weight, diet, emotions, feelings, food choices, goal weight, helping others, losing weight, middle age, obesity, shame, weight watchers

The Common Sense Diet: It’s About Calories – Nothing Else

March 2, 2011 By Scott "Q" Marcus

“Lose 20 pounds in one week! No dieting! No exercise! No lifestyle change!”

I will admit that I’ve been sucked in by such snake oil pitches and pie-in-the-sky promises ever since I was first embarrassed by having to shop in the “husky” section of the boys’ clothing department.

Yet, decades later, such 127-point screaming headline proclamations remain as common fare across the back pages of tabloids; or enthusiastically, breathlessly broadcast on slick, highly produced infomercials featuring questionable “experts” interviewing “real people” experiencing “actual results.”

When we can turn down the magical thinking long enough to strap on our adult brain thinking caps, we know that losing weight is not rocket science; it’s a simple premise; keep your mouth shut longer and your feet moving further and you’ll end up at your correct weight. The bottom line is quite simply “calories in versus calories out.” Period; end of story; mystery over. Spend more than you take in and — voila! — a new skinny you.

Should you need validation of this fact, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report a while ago, that proved that as long as a diet reduced one’s caloric intake, the result was weight loss — regardless of the diet’s make up of fat, protein, or carbohydrate. They asked 811 overweight and obese adults to try one of four different low-fat, high fiber diets. Activity was encouraged, and participants could receive group and individual support to keep them motivated. What they discovered was that craving, fullness, hunger, and diet satisfaction were similar across all four diets; and that all participants lost weight and reduced their waistlines — irrespective of the type of diet they followed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Diet, Health, Newspaper Column, Overcoming Obstacles, Rant, Weight Loss, willpower Tagged With: adult brain, caloric intake, correct weight, diet fads, diet scams, high fiber diets, journal of medicine, lifestyle change, low fat high fiber diets, magical thinking, new england journal of medicine, obese adults, pie in the sky, snake oil

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